HP Press Release

COLOGNE, Germany, Sept. 26, 2006 – HP today made a series of announcements marking the international expansion of its digital photography business and its efforts to further accelerate the photo industry’s transformation from analogue to digital technologies. The news, announced at the Photokina tradeshow, includes the expansion of HP’s online and retail photo businesses in Europe; an addition to its retail photo printing portfolio; new professional photo-printing systems with industry-leading colour output and management capabilities; and additional tools for HP Indigo digital presses that enhance photo-specialty printing. Collectively, these products, services and partners’ efforts enable new experiences for all of HP’s photography customers – from consumers, hobbyists and professionals to retailers and print service providers.

“Today’s announcements move HP significantly closer to realising the next phase of our vision for creating an all-digital photography marketplace,” said Vyomesh Joshi, executive vice president, Imaging and Printing Group, HP. “HP is the only company with the depth and breadth of offerings to aggressively transform the photography industry in order to enable more compelling, personal and memorable experiences in markets around the world.”

Growing retail and online photo businesses internationally
Linking consumers’ home and online photography experiences to retail, HP has signed two deals with Jessops, the United Kingdom’s No. 1 photography retailer and now one of the first to install the HP Photosmart Studio on a trial basis outside of North America. The HP Photosmart Studio is the only in-store offering where consumers can design creative products in about five minutes – without having to crop or place photos into individual templates – and then pick them up in one hour or less. With HP’s entry into the retail photo-printing market in Europe, the company is now competing in the $35 billion-plus (€27 billion) photo industry on an international scale.

Additionally, Snapfish by HP will host Jessops’ new online photo site – Picture House – enabling customers to take advantage of Snapfish’s industry-leading online photo service to print, share and store their photos. Jessops customers now have the ability to upload photos to the online photo site and pick up prints at the Jessops store of their choice.

“HP’s offering of digital cameras and photo printers has proved popular with our customers.  We are excited to be extending the relationship with HP to enable our customers to do more with their photos,” said Chris Langley, CEO of Jessops.  “We already print up to 3 million photos from digital images each week through our stores. Our new relationship with HP and Snapfish will provide an opportunity for further growth for Jessops in this dynamic market.”
Snapfish also has extended the “Snapfish by HP” brand to 13 of its online photo sites in Europe, which previously operated under the Pixaco brand. This move makes Snapfish the No. 1 online photo service brand worldwide. Additionally, Snapfish has begun rolling out its award-winning online photo capabilities in 14 countries across Europe. Beginning today in Austria, France and Germany, Snapfish has extended capabilities such as free online photo sharing and storage – services that are not currently offered by most European online photo sites.

New in-store photo-printing solutions for retailers
HP has added the HP Photosmart pm1000 Microlab to the company’s retail photo-printing portfolio. Based on HP’s scalable print technology, which is designed to deliver high-performance printing for high-volume users, the HP Photosmart pm1000 Microlab creates lab-quality, 10x15-cm (4 x 6-inch) prints quickly – up to 700 prints per hour. Available in North America and Europe this autumn, the offering uses specially designed inks and papers to create smudge-, water- and fade-resistant (more than 50 years(1)) prints.
Retailers can easily add the compact, simple-to-operate Microlab to existing photo centres both as a back-counter application and as an instant, front-counter print solution. The system requires minimal maintenance from retailers, resulting in lower operating costs and higher revenue. Additionally, since the system uses a dry process, retailers do not have to deal with hazardous waste as they do with analog printing systems.

Transforming the colour experience for photography and graphics professionals
HP is changing the way professional photographers, digital fine artists, graphic designers and prepress professionals create large-format images with the unveiling of the HP Designjet Z2100 and Z3100 Photo Printer series.
The eight-ink HP Designjet Z2100 and 12-ink Z3100 both provide an automated colour management experience that enables professional photographers to consistently print museum-quality colour and black and white photos up to 44 inches wide. The HP Designjet Z3100 uses a 12-ink HP Vivera pigment system, including the HP 70 Gloss Enhancer and HP Quad-Black inks to create rich black and white prints and achieve truly neutral greys under different lighting conditions. Both printers also deliver unprecedented photo permanence – up to 200 years – on a wide variety of media.(2)

Graphic professionals can now create colour profiles in minutes instead of hours and receive exact colour matches throughout the printing process. Traditionally complex colour management has been streamlined with the first embedded spectrophotometer on a large format printer, based on X-Rite Eye-One colour technology and integrated with an HP Colour Centre interface.

The HP Designjet Z2100 and Z3100 Photo Printer series are also the first large-format printers to leverage HP’s scalable printing technology to achieve the optimal balance between speed and image quality.

HP is expanding its media portfolio with 11 new offerings for a total of 30 options, ranging from photo and digital fine art papers, to backlit, indoor banner and Tyvek.

In addition to its large-format printer line, HP expanded its B-size photo printer portfolio with the introduction of the HP Photosmart Pro B8350 Photo Printer. Priced at €349,(3) this versatile photo printer is ideal for the photo hobbyist who wants to produce 3.5 x 5-inch up to 13 x 19-inch professional lab-quality prints at an affordable price.

Joining the B8350 in the lineup is the HP Photosmart Pro B9180 Photo Printer, which began shipping this month. Also based on HP’s scalable printing technology, the B9180 delivers exceptional image quality at increased speeds and provides the industry’s best photo permanence on a wide variety of HP media with eight-ink colour photos that resist fading for more than 200 years.(4)

New solutions for HP Indigo presses enhance workflows for photo-specialty printing
A number of new tools for HP Indigo digital presses enhance the production of high-value photo-specialty applications requiring photo-lab quality.

Taking advantage of the HP Indigo press’s exclusive seven-colour printing capability, HP Indigo Light Cyan and Light Magenta inks deliver significantly enhanced photo quality with smoother tone and image transition. Expected to be available in the second half of 2007, the inks give photo finishers and print service providers a competitive edge in the professional album and photo specialty markets.

To improve the efficiency of high-volume, image-rich production, HP has introduced the HP Scalable RIP Solution (SRS). This completely automated workflow solution enables users to centrally process and feed jobs in parallel to multiple HP Indigo presses at maximum press speeds, reporting production status in real time. HP SRS leverages HP’s extensive IT capabilities, employing the HP BladeSystem to deliver full efficiency and reliability in the most demanding production environments.
UK-based photo retailer Bowie Castlebank is taking advantage of the growth in photo specialty products including photobooks by integrating an HP Indigo press 5000 into its retail store and kiosk operations. Connected through a broadband network across the UK, the recently installed digital press will serve Bowie Castlebank’s Klick Photopoint, Max Spielmann and Supasnaps stores.

New six-colour HP scanners for expert photo restoration
HP today announced it is offering the most colour-accurate photo scanning yet with its new six-colour, 96-bit scanners. Both the HP Scanjet G4010 and HP Scanjet G4050 contain technology exclusive to HP – six-colour, 96-bit scanning at 4800x9600dpi. The scanners produce incredibly colour-accurate, faithful and detailed images that make impressive reprints for those who wish to scan photos, slides, negatives and documents to an almost professional standard.

The scanners are perfect for the restoration of old photos due to built-in hardware based dust and scratch removal with HP Scanjet G4050. Faded colour can easily be heightened, dust and scratches removed and dark areas lightened using HP Real Life technologies. The HP Scanjet G4050 comes with a transparent material adapter capable of taking multiple formats. It takes multiple photos, 16 35mm slides, 30 35mm frames, two medium-format film frames and one 4x5-inch film frame, making it one of the most productive and flexible photo scanners yet.

More information regarding HP’s announcements at Photokina is available in an online press kit at www.hp.com/go/photokinaevent2006.

About HP
HP is a technology solutions provider to consumers, businesses and institutions globally. The company’s offerings span IT infrastructure, global services, business and home computing, and imaging and printing. For the four fiscal quarters ended July 31, 2006, HP revenue totaled $90.0 billion. More information about HP (NYSE, Nasdaq: HPQ) is available at www.hp.com.
Note to editors: HP news releases are available via RSS feed at www.hp.com/hpinfo/rss.html.

(1) See www.Wilhelm-Research.com for Display Permanence Rating method details
(2) Display permanence rating by Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc. on a range of HP creative and specialty media. For details, visit www.hp.com/go/supplies/printpermanence.
(3) Estimated EMEA MRSP inc VAT. Actual price may vary by country.
(4) Display permanence rating by Wilhelm Imaging Research, Inc. or HP Image Permanence Lab using HP Advanced Photo Paper, HP Matte Photo Paper, HP Hahnemühle Smooth Fine Art Paper and HP Hahnemühle Watercolour Paper, HP Aquarella Art Paper and HP Artist Matt Canvas. For details visit www.hp.com/go/printpermanence.